Manchester City have slipped to yet another defeat in the Premier League, losing embarrassingly to Tottenham Hotspur 4-0.
Fans were well up for this game at the Etihad Stadium following Man City’s confirmation of a contract extension for Pep Guardiola in midweek.
Manchester City started the game brightly against Tottenham, but after 13 minutes James Maddison gave the visitors the lead against the run of play, volleying in a Dejan Kulusevski cross.
Maddison got his second after 20 minutes, with City giving the ball away sloppily in their defensive third. Maddison exchanged passes with Heung-min Son, before dinking the ball over Ederson.
City were really wasteful, with Erling Haaland having one of those days in front of goal.
In the second-half, Spurs grabbed a third as Pedro Porro raced up to join a Spurs attack to finish a cut-back by Dominic Solanke.
It was just another tough day at the office where most things went wrong – and some City fans were left making the same verdict about Ilkay Gundogan after the game.
Man City fans think Ilkay Gundogan could be finished
With Rodri out for the foreseeable, Guardiola needs to come up with a solution to replace the Spaniard.
So far, he has unable to find one, and Ilkay Gundogan unfortunately doesn’t look cut out to be in that role.
It was alarming to see how Maddison ghosted into the box so easily with Gundogan not tracking him. He then couldn’t block Pedro Porro’s shot on the third Spurs goal. Gundogan also had a golden chance when he was slipped in by Kevin De Bruyne, but saw his near-post effort easily saved.
And too many times, the German was bypassed with Spurs’ energectic midfielders finding it relatively easy to play against him.
By no means was he the only poor performer in midfield today – Bernardo Silva and Rico Lewis both also had bad games.
But City fans are getting worried about Gundogan in his second spell at the club.
Gundogan has struggled after returning to Man City
There was so much praise for City for bringing Gundogan back in the summer. It really did feel like a no-brainer of a move on a free transfer.
But he has really struggled to show the levels he did in his last season for City before leaving for Barcelona, and it’s clear at this point he’s not the same player he was when he left.
Granted, the intention was never for Guardiola to use him as much as he has. The injury to Rodri has meant he’s certainly played a lot of minutes.
But City just cannot continue with him as a starter and simply must sign a new midfielder in January.
Gundogan is a club legend and always will be. The contributions he has made in City shirt have been amazing and plentiful. But he should not be starting games regularly now, and hopefully the club will address this in January.
